You Know The Holiday Has Arrived When...

1. I went to bed at midnight. It was so early, I had to double check all my clocks to make sure that was the correct time. Because going to bed at midnight is, for me, about as rare as seeing a unicorn-- and definitely just as miraculous.

2. I woke up at 12:45 p.m. Arizona time. Which means it's 1:45 p.m. Oklahoma time. Which means I definitely slept solid until mid-afternoon. Excellent.

3. It's already an hour later, and I haven't gotten any further along in getting ready for the day than putting on clothes (though, in my defense, said clothes are workout clothes, and I'm currently in the process of convincing myself to go on a run. This is difficult business, I can assure you).

4. I ate macaroons and Russel Stover chocolates yesterday like it was nobody's business. See, my sister is a teacher, and a pint-sized pupil's favorite gift over the holiday season is chocolate and candy and some more chocolate. So all those sugary treats are now overflowing her kitchen table, and I've taken it as my personal responsibility to make a sizable dent in that pile before I leave (hence, as previously stated, my need to go for a run).

5. It's time to start figuring out what you got everyone for Christmas. The good thing about buying everyone's Christmas gifts in June is that you don't have to go shopping now, when the mall is hell and their parking lots are a special kind of purgatory. The bad thing is that, being so long ago, I now completely forget what I bought everyone and can't remember who is the one person I still haven't gotten anything for. And I can't check because I thought ahead and stashed all my Christmas gifts in a bottom drawer at my sister's house in Las Vegas (where we're all spending Christmas). Woops. Being a planner has come back to bite me in the butt.

6. Our evening plans consist of driving around one of the wealthy neighborhoods in town that has over-the-top Christmas light displays. So excited! Apparently this particular neighborhood we are going to is so legit that they have horse-drawn buggy rides going through in the evenings. And in warm 65 degree Arizona weather, that sounds absolutely wonderful.

7. Because of the many weeks of "thumbs up" and "thumbs down," Pandora has perfected your Holiday Music playlists so nicely that Mariah Carey doesn't show up your Bing Crosby playlist -- ever. So nice.